What motives do people prioritize in their social lives? Historically, social psychologists, especially those adopting an evolutionary perspective, have devoted a great deal of research attention to sexual attraction and romantic-partner choice (mate seeking). Research on long-term familial bonds (mate retention and kin care) has been less thoroughly connected to relevant comparative and evolutionary work on other species, and in the case of kin care, these bonds have been less well researched. Examining varied sources of data from 27 societies around the world, we found that people generally view familial motives as primary in importance and mate-seeking motives as relatively low in importance. Compared with other groups, college students, single people, and men place relatively higher emphasis on mate seeking, but even those samples rated kin-care motives as more important. Furthermore, motives linked to long-term familial bonds are positively associated with psychological well-being, but mate-seeking motives are associated with anxiety and depression. We address theoretical and empirical reasons why there has been extensive research on mate seeking and why people prioritize goals related to long-term familial bonds over mating goals. Reallocating relatively greater research effort toward long-term familial relationships would likely yield many interesting new findings relevant to everyday people's highest social priorities.

Behavioral Neuroscience Lab Instituto D'Or de Pesquisa e Ensino Rio de Janeiro Brazil

Behavioral Sciences Research Institute Universidad Católica Boliviana

Booth School of Business University of Chicago

Center for Experimental Research in Social Sciences Hokkaido University

Department of Administration and Economics Universidad de La Frontera

Department of Anthropology Purdue University

Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy Babeş Bolyai University

Department of Economic Psychology Johannes Kepler University Linz

Department of Psychology Aberystwyth University

Department of Psychology Arizona State University

Department of Psychology Fundación Universitaria Konrad Lorenz

Department of Psychology Iowa State University

Department of Psychology Oklahoma State University

Department of Psychology Sogang University

Department of Psychology TOBB University of Economics and Technology

Department of Psychology Universidad de los Andes

Department of Psychology University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli

Department of Psychology University of Hamburg

Department of Psychology University of Toronto

Department of Psychology University of Waterloo

Department of Psychology Yonsei University

Department of Social Psychology Social Anthropology Social Work and Social Services University of Malaga

Faculty of Psychology Chulalongkorn University

Humanities Fukuoka University

Institute for Gerontology Vechta University

Institute for Social Research University of Michigan

Institute of Psychology Czech Academy of Sciences

Institute of Psychology Russian Academy of Sciences

Instituto de Psicologia Universidade de São Paulo

School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences Peking University

School of Psychology Curtin University

School of Psychology University of Kent

School of Psychology Victoria University of Wellington

The Coaching Institute San Diego CA

The Delve Pvt Ltd Islamabad Pakistan

Perspect Psychol Sci. 2021 Mar;16(2):473-476. doi: 10.1177/1745691621995517. PubMed

Citace poskytuje Crossref.org

Family still matters: Human social motivation across 42 countries during a global pandemic

Fundamental social motives measured across forty-two cultures in two waves